- Adam Kunkel is a track Olympian in 2008 from Canada (also known as CAN)
- Event: 400m Hurdles, 4x400m Relay
- Birthdate: February 24, 1981
- Hometown: Paisley, Ont.
- Residence: Edmonton
- Coach: Kevin Tyler
- Club: Legacy Athletics
Insights[]
There is a sign at the outskirts of Paisley, Ont., proclaiming it to be hurdler Adam Kunkel’s hometown – and with good reason. He entered the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro last summer as the Canadian record holder in the 400-metre hurdles. By the end of the Games, the only thing that had changed was that his record time was lowered and he was the owner of a bright, shiny new gold medal.
The 2007 Athletics season saw Kunkel win his fifth consecutive Canadian championship and take home medals from meets in Zagreb and Lucerne, earning him Athletics Canada’s Phil A. Edwards Memorial Trophy as their top athlete of the year. Only a hamstring injury early in the 400-metre hurdles final at the 2007 IAAF World Championships could slow Kunkel’s meteoric rise. With the 2008 Olympic Games a year away, Kunkel came away from the Worlds with something to prove to the world, namely that his hamstring injury may have been the only thing to cost him a medal that day in Osaka, Japan.
It is a long way from Paisley (population: 1,100) to the metropolis of Beijing (population: 17 million plus). If everything goes to plan, the town will be able to get a new sign, calling Paisley the hometown of an Olympic medallist.